Safety accessory for gas stoves



Feb. 2, 1954 A. MARX 2,667,864

SAFETY ACCESSORY FOR GAS STQVEIS Filed Dec. 29, 1949 2 Sheets-Sheet l I INVENTOR. ADOLPH MARX BY awzmm ATTOQNEY Feb. 2, 1954 A. MARX SAFETY ACCESSORY FOR GAS STOVES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 29, 1949 UUUUUUU UUU INVENTOR ADOLPH MARX Patented Feb. 2, 1954 UN I TED S TATES LATENT This is acontinuatiomiwpar my opendi-ng application- Serial-No. 114 1 3 5; riled September 6; 1949; now abandoned.

This invention relates to safety"accessories-forgas stoves. Gas ordinarilyused as f'uel in domes-- tic cooking stovesis' highly poi onous'and ihfiam mable and thedangers fron rdiently 'escaping gas are well known; Leakage-of gas ina y resultfrom a variety of causes; the gas then continuing-- to-fiow to form a poisonous andpossibly*eirplo sive mixture with the surrounding-air. Children too small torealize the-danger may turn onor valve controlling the flow of gas to erburnerand allow gas to escape. In attempting to shut oh the iiow of gas to a burner; oneinay inadvertently not quite close the valve and." the'-fiarne may be extinguished with aresulting leakage of thegas; The general object of the invention is to pro vide-an improved safety accessoryfor gas stoves Whichwill prevent or at least greatly minimizethe danger of accidental and" dangerous leak age of gasfrom thehu-rners. Another object of theinvention-is to prov-id'e' a safety accessory of the type indicated'which issirnpl'e-in construction and inexpensive and which may" he easily and quickly attached tea gasstove withoutthe use of tools or at least without the use oiany special tools;

The objects and a dvantages of 'the invention-- will become more apparent from'the-foliowing description talc-eneonnection'with theacc'om panying drawings-in- Fig; 1 is-a fr ont or face view'ofa safety accessory constructed in ac cordance with the invention and mounted in operativeposition on a gas stove, a small top por-- tion only of the stove being shown, Fig. 2 is a plan View of the safety accessory shown in Fig. 1, Fig. 3 a sectional View on the line- 3-3 of. Fig.1, Fig. a is a perspective view of a portion of asheet metal base for supporting the. operative-parts ofthe accessory, Fig. 5 is a. partial front: View similar to Fig. 1 but indicating a modifiedr form of the safety accessory, Fig. o ls-a.- front: view of another form of the invention mounted on:a gas stove with the burner valves guarded; Eig-i 7i is aview' similar to Fig. 6 but iv-ith 'the valves um guarded anol Fig. 8 is a sectional view onrthe line: 8-8- in Fig. 6.

Like reference characters indicate similar parts in the different figures'of the drawing.

The invention as shown in Figs. 1 to 5 inclusiVe': inciudeszav channel shapedv base" or support it formed of a thin flat back sheet or plate H with an upper edge flange 53, a lower edge flange 12 and end flanges M. The support Ii) thus has 215 the-form of a channel with" allits'edges bent to form anihtegral flange-aniiis preferahlyformed of meta-1 which may have air enamel" or other desirable finish.-

The channel-support it has a'seri-es of open ings f5 spaced approximately alongthe center line' of-its back plate-'- H; the spacing of these openings I5 being-approximately that oi the stems i 6 of'theva-lves H 'wl iieh-control"the flow' of gas from" the" m-ani'fbltl I 9" to the gas burners- H! of the stove.

In the usual-construction of' mo'dern gas stoves;

the-stems it' of the-Valves l i controlling theflow of gasto the burners exhe'nd-' through spaced openings in the front M 01 the stove; the-valve stemsi 6 beingprov-idecl wi'th -lsnobsor handles 2| for convenience in turning them.

The ehann-el 'support" i li is placed againstthe front of the stove writl i valve stems- IS on tending-through-the openings F5 inthe support. This-is easilyaccomplfshedloyreinovihg the knobs 2 I with the valve stems ii necessary, pacing the channel support" iii-position against-'thefront of the stove and replacing the k nol ds--2 i with the valve stems I 5 extending through the openings I 510i thesupport the support it being" retained These open and held imp-lace by"- the: knobs a ings i=5 are prsiie arahlyelongated toaccommodate them to variationsi i-1 :tl i'e spacing of i the valve stems-er to permit the accessory to-be mounted on stoves with diflere y spacedWal ve stems.

A- latch orguard 22 each gas valve knob on handle 2I whichit em gages-when the val-veis in olosed positiorr topreventaccidentalliopeni g: of the valve; The mod ern' gasvalvecontro nob usually: adisk shaped base: portion 1 with: a fie-t projecting gripings-=?3- in-the'-lbwer fiange-ofthe support it; the

guards'thus' beingpivotall'ysupported by. this lower flange I2. A series of "closely spacedopen' ings is preferably provided to permit adjustment of the guards along the lower flange 2 to acconv is positioned front or 3 modate them to the positions of .the corresponding valve knobs 2|.

Above each guard 22, a guard retainer 23 is adjustably secured to the upper flange l3. As shown in the drawing, these retainers are formed of spring wire secured in position by bolts 24 passing'through openings 25 in the upper flange, the openings 25 being preferably elongated to permit adjustment of the retainers along the flange. The lower ends of the retainers 23 are hook shaped to receive and grip the upper ends of the guards 22 and thus greatly minimize release of the valve knobs 2| and inadvertent or accidental opening of the valves controlling flow of gas to the burners.

Ag'indicated in Fig. where a modified form of the invention is shown, it is assumed that the closed position of the gas valve corresponds to the vertical position of the grip portion of the control knob 2|. The guard 22 is of simple U-shape with straight parallel sides to engage the vertical grip portion of the control knob 2| when in position to close its valve. Otherwise, the construction indicated in Fig. 5 is similar to that already described and shown in Figs. 1 to 4.

The arrangement of the invention shown in Fig. l is for use in connection with a series of four equally spaced gas burner valves but it is obvious that the device may be constructed for use in connection with any other desired number of valves.

The safety accessory has been described and illustrated in Figs. 1 to 5 with the guards pivoted to the lower flange and the retainers secured to the upper flange, but it is clear that it may be assembled with the stove in the reverse position, if desired.

In the form of the invention shown in Figs. 6, 7 and 8, the flanged supporting plate I9 is similar to that of Figs. 1 to 5 and is mounted and held in place on the stove in the same way by the knobs or handles 2|. In this form of the invention, however, the guard is in the form of a cover or shield 26 connected to the upper flange l3 by a hinge 21. This cover or guard 26 may be held in closed position as shown in Fig. 6 by a spring latch 28 which should have a spring strong enough to prevent its release by small children. It may be released without difficulty by an adult,

however, to permit the guard 26 to be opened.

as indicated in Fig. 7. With the guard 26 in open position, the valve control handles 2| are freely accessible and the gas may be turned on and on" as desired. The guard 26 is shown as being provided with a spring 29 to open the guard 26 automatically upon release of the latch 23. The guard 26 is preferably provided with small openings 39 to improve the appearance of the device and to permit easy inspection of the valve handles 2| to determine their positions at any time. These openings 36 should, of course, be small enough to prevent small children from reaching through them to turn the handles 2|. An important advantage of the form of the invention described in connection with Figs. 6, 7 and 8 is that the guard or cover 26 need not engage the knobs 2| and this form of device may therefore be used in connection with knobs of any shape and design.

The invention provides a simple, inexpensive and very effective arrangement for preventing or at least greatly minimizing the danger of leakage of gas from gas stoves.

What I claim is:

1. In a gas stove having a valve stem projecting from a wall of said stove, and an operating knob arranged on the projecting stem so as to leave a space between said wall and knob, a safety accessory comprising a support member having an opening for accommodating the projecting valve stem, said support member extending in the space betweensaid wall and knob and held in place against said wall, by said knob, guard means mounted on said support member for movement from a first position guarding said knob to a second position permitting operation of said knob with the support member held between said wall and knob, and locking means for retaining the guard means in said first position.

2. In a gas stove having valve stems projecting from a wall of said stove, and operating knobs arranged on the projecting stems so as to leave a space between said wall and knobs, a safety accessory comprising a support member having a plurality of spaced elongated openings for accommodating the projecting valve stems, said support member extending into the spaces between said wall and knobs and held in place against said wall by said knobs, guard means pivotally mounted on said support member for movement from a first position guarding said knobs to a second position permitting operation of said knobs with the support member held between said wall and knobs, and locking means for retaining the guard means in said second position.

3. In a gas stove having valve stems projecting from a wall of said stove, and operating knobs arranged on the projecting stems so as to leave a space between said wall and knobs, a safety accessory comprising a base plate, a pair of flanges on said base plate having a plurality of spaced elongated openings for accommodating the projecting valve stems, said base plate extending into the spaces between said wall and knobs and held in place against said wall by said knobs, a cover pivotally connected to one of said flanges for movement from a closed position guarding said knobs to an open position permitting operation of said knobs with the base plate held between said wall and knobs, and a spring latch secured to the other of said flanges for locking the cover in said closed position.

4. A safety accessory as claimed in claim 3, in which said cover is provided with openings to permit inspection of said operating knobs.

ADOLPH MARX.

References page in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 928,770 Knudsen July 20, 1909 1,141,335 Hajek June 1, 1915 1,271,539 Cadigan July 9, 1918 1,329,490 Worthington Feb. 3, 1920 1,444,379 Jones Feb. 6, 1923 1,527,992 Norton Mar. 3, 1925 1,536,016 Kavanagh Apr. 28, 1925 2,094,441 Aidala Sept. 28, 1937 2,187,118 Ficklin Jan. 16, 1940 2,472,793 Conterno June 14, 1949 2,479,300 Binz Aug. 16, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 322,171 Great Britain Nov. 21, 1929 

